Industrial Medicine Flashcards

Question

What we’re attempts to prevent the spread of cholera

Answer 1

Believe cholera was caused by miasma and spontaneous generation The governemnt started regulating the burial of the dead but this did little to halt the spread of disease

Answer 2

Snow was a popular and well respected doctor and surgeon in London He observed the cholera epidemic and began work on his theory thay cholera was spread through contaminated drinking water and not by miasma

Answer 3

When cholera broke out again in 1854 he interviewed people living in broad street and made a map of the area showing where cases of the disease had been.he mapped all the deaths and found a strong link to one water pump on broad street He removed the handle of the pump so people couldn’t collect water from it which made the number of deaths fall dramatically Later it was discovered that a cesspit close by was leaking waste into the well In 1855 snow presented his findings to the government

Answer 4

Snows work combined with other evidence like the Great Stink and a new London sewer system was completed Snows work helped make the link between dirty water and diseas leading to the public health act in 1875 when cities authorities were finally forced to provide clean water

Answer 5

Some people resisted vaccination. Some doctors who have the older type of inoculation saw it as a threat to their livelihood and many people were worried about giving themselves a disease from cows But jenners discovery soon got approval of Parliament which gave Jenner 10000 in 1802 to open a vaccination clinic. It gave jenner a further 20,000 a few years later In 1840 vaccination against smallpox was made free for infants. In 1853 it was made compulsory

Answer 6

In 1842 Edwin Chadwick published a report suggesting that poor living conditions caused poor health Chadwick report led to the 1848 public health act. The act set up a central board of health and let local councils set up their own board of health. In 1858 sewage in the river Thames made a “great stink” in the middle of London. This forced the governemnt to plan a new sewer system which opened in 1865

Answer 7

For most of the 19th century people believed in a laissez-faire style of government-the thought the government shouldn’t intervene in public health. However snows discovery of the link between dirty water and cholera and Pasteurs germ theory showed that cleaning up towns could stop the spread of disease In 1867 the second reform act was passed. It gave an additional 1 million men the vote most of whom were industrial workers. Workers could now put pressure on the government to listen to concerns about health. For the first time politicians had to address workers concerns to stay in power

Answer 8

In 1871-1872 the government followed the royal sanitary commissions proposal to for the local government board and divide Britain into “sanitary areas” administered by officers for public health In 1875 the government of Benjamin Disraeli passed another public health act. It forced councils to Appoint health inspectors and sanitary inspectors who made sure that laws of things like water supplies and hygiene were being followed Maintain sewerage systems to prevent further cholera outbreaks Keep the towns streets clean

Answer 9

The 1875 public health act was more effective than the one passed in 1848 because it was compulsory In 1875 Disraeli also brought in the artisans dwellings act which let local councils buy slums with poor living conditions and rebuild them in a way that fit new government backed housing standards Other important reforms included the 1876 river pollution prevention act which stopped people from dumping sewage or industrial waste into rivers Just as the government used the work of Jenner to make vaccination compulsory the 1875 act built in the work of several individuals including John snow and Louis Pasteur. The scientific proof these individuals provided combined with a change of attitudes towards the role of the government helped put pressure on the government

Answer 10

Pain was a problem for surgeons especially because their patients could die from the trauma of extreme pain. Natural drugs like alcohol, opium and mandrake had long been used but effective anaesthetics that didn’t made the patient very ill were more difficult to produce Nitrous oxide was identified as a possible anaesthetic by British chemist Humphrey Davy in 1799 but he was ignored by surgeons t the time. The gas had been dismissed as fairground novelty before American dentist Horace Wells suggested it’s use in his area of work. He did a public demonstration in 1845 but had the bad luck to pick a patient unaffected by nitrous oxide-it was again ignored

Answer 11

In 1842 American doctor Crawford long discovered the anaesthetic qualities of ether but didn’t publish his work. The first public demonstration of ether as an anaesthetic was carried out in 1846 by American dental surgeon William Morton Ether is an irritant and is also fairly explosive so using it in this way was risky

Answer 12

James Simpson was a professor of midwifery at Edinburgh uni. Looking for a safe alternative to ether that women could take during childbirth he began to experiment on himself. In 1847 he discovered the effects of chloroform After queen Victoria gave birth to her 8th child while using chloroform in 1853, it became widely used in operating theatres and to reduce pain during childbirth Surgery became pain free and patients didn’t struggle so surgeons could take more time and be more careful. Deeper more complex surgery became possible and the death rate dramatically decreased as surgery was more successful.

Answer 13

Anaesthetics led to longer and more complex operations. This was because surgeons found that unconscious patients were easier to operate on meaning they could take longer over their work Longer operating times led to higher death rates from infection because surgeons didn’t know that poor hygiene spread disease. Surgeons used very unhygienic methods Surgeons didn’t know having clean clothes saved lives. Often they wore the same coats for years covered in dirt from previous operations. Instruments also caused infection since they were usually unwashed and dirty

Answer 14

Anaesthetics helped solve the problem of pain but patients were still dying from infection. This meant the attempts at more complicated surgery actually led to increased death rates amongst patients. The period between 1846 and 1870 is sometimes known as the “black period” of surgery for this reason

Answer 15

Ignaz Semmelweis showed that doctors could reduce the spread of infection by washing their hands with chloride of lime solution between patients. However it was really unpleasant so wasn’t widely used Joseph lister had seen carbolic acid sprays used in sewage works to keep down the smell. He tried this in the operating theatre in the early 1860s and saw reduced infection rates Lister heard about the germ theory in 1865- he realised that germs could be in the air on surgical instruments and on peoples hands. He started using carbolic acid on instruments and bandages

Answer 16

The use of antiseptics immediately reduced death rates from as high as 50% in 1864-66 to around 15% in 1867-70 Antiseptics allowed surgeons to operate with less fear of patients dying from infection. The number of operations increased tenfold between 1867 and 1912 as a result

Answer 17

Since the late 1800s surgeons have changed their approach from killing germs to making a germ free environment Instruments are carefully sterilised before use usually with high temperature steam Theatre staff sterilise their hands before entering- and wear sterile gowns, masks gloves and hats. Surgical gloves were invented by William halsted in 1889 The theatres themselves are kept scrupulously clean and fed with sterile air. Special tents can be placed around the operating table to maintain an area of even stricter hygiene in high risk cases Aseptic surgery reduced the need for carbolic spray which is unpleasant to get on your skin or breathe in-many doctors and nurses didn’t like to use it

Industrial Medicine Flashcards

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